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Knowing yourself

The mind is in general the least interesting part of the self.  You might say “but oh the life of the mind is fascinating”.  Really?  Where does “fascination” happen?  Are naked women not also fascinating if you are a heterosexual man?  The “life of the mind” leads somewhere, and that somewhere is unquestionably interesting, but it is not in the mind.  As I have said repeatedly, the mind is a tool, and when used as a source of aesthetic pleasure it tends to be abused.  It is separated from the need for usefulness, which is its main value. Pleasure can and should be pursued elsewhere.  Where, elsewhere, is a proper task for thinking.  The enjoyment of elsewhere, is not.

I just did a forward bend for 21 minutes.  I have just discovered that very long stretches lead interesting places.  If you bring a quality of patient attention, of the sort used in Kum Nye, then a great deal of movement and motion happen in that 21 minutes.  Now, I move around.  I rock gently at the limit of my range of motion, as I read is useful.  I sit up and focus on my upper back.  I alternately push one leg then the other out a couple inches.

But I have found areas of tightness will over time release information. This is fascinating.  My next experiment is going to focus on my very tight hip flexors for an hour.  I am going to alternate myofascial release with stretching.  I’ll post results.  I suspect it will tell me something, something non-verbal, which means I can’t write about it, but something useful.